An investigation of ECG artefacts in high field MRI.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate electrocardiogram artefacts in high field magnetic resonance imaging. Artefacts are a result of the interaction of the magnetic field with the blood flow, which produces a phenomenon called the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect. This causes noise in ECG signals. During an MRI scan, the patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) can be required for either gating or patient monitoring purposes. However, the hostile environment of an MRI scanner with its various types of magnetic fields causes serve distortions of the acquired ECG signals. These distortions or artifacts hamper to study these effects of the MRI environment, consisting this project used a database of ECG signals acquired in various MRI scanners.